Information for staff

Collaboration with Academic Schools

We work with academic and support staff to ensure teaching and learning activities are accessible to disabled students.  This means enabling students to access course content, fully participate in learning activities and demonstrate their knowledge and strengths at assessment. Personal Learning Support Plans (PLSPs) are drawn up for individual students and Advisers liaise with Schools’ Disability Tutors and academic staff on reasonable adjustments to remove barriers.

We also work closely with Admissions Tutors and Disability Tutors to ensure reasonable adjustments can be put in place and that courses are accessible to individual students.

• Impairment Categories as listed on UCAS/application form

Policy and Procedure

• BU’s Code of Practice on the Provision for Disabled Students

Contains policy and procedure on the learning environment, assessment, admissions, confidentiality.

Staff Development

We offer tailored development sessions for all staff at the University with the following aims:

• to increase awareness of the issues and barriers faced by disabled students

• to explore strategies to provide an inclusive learning experience

• to outline the University's responsibilities in relation to disabled students

• to brief staff on the relevant University policies and procedures

Development sessions that are currently available on request include:

• Awareness training in the following areas:
  
  
  • Dyslexia / Dyspraxia / Attentional Difficulties
  • Asperger’s syndrome and related conditions
  • Visual impairment
  • Deaf Awareness
  • Mental health difficulties
    
    

• Legislation in relation to disabled students

• Bangor's support systems for disabled students

In addition, we recognise that a proactive approach to inclusion is likely to reduce the time academic staff would otherwise spend working on a one-to-one basis with students who are experiencing barriers to learning.  We therefore work closely with the Centre for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT) to develop and deliver workshops on inclusive learning. 

If you wish to make your teaching accessible to an individual student, or you simply want to find out more about how to make your teaching inclusive then please contact us.

Disability Services' Resources for Staff

• Advice from Disability Services on Inclusive Assessments
• Blended Learning - simple steps to include all your students
• Resources for staff on Specific Learning Differences (SpLDs).
• Assessments for Disability Service
• Teaching strategies to use with deaf students – advice for lecturers in HE
  • Working with deaf students – group work
  • Effective communication with hearing impaired students
  • Supporting Hearing Impaired Students During Remote Learning
• Accessibility and E-learning
• Making Resources Accessible
• 'Self-service alternative formats' (MP3, DAISY, EPUB, etc)
• Focus on Inclusive Teaching Bulletin
  • Mental Health Difficulties
  • Creating Accessible e-learning Materials
• Reasonable Adjustments FAQs
• What is a PLSP and how does a student get one?
• Applying for Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA)
• Cultivate Project: 10 ways to make fieldwork more inclusive and accessible

Who can see a PLSP?

• Disability Tutors - Schools’ Disability Tutors can view a report of all students in their School who have a PLSP in the PLSP app at https://apps.bangor.ac.uk/plsp/report/disability/tutor/

• Personal Tutors and Senior Tutors - Tutors can see relevant PLSP data for their tutees. The Tutor System integrates information from students’ PLSPs once consent has been obtained. Once a Personal Tutor clicks on a student’s name their information should appear onscreen, under the PLSP tab at https://apps.bangor.ac.uk/tutor/. Senior Tutors can view all PLSPs of students registered on courses in their schools.

• Module Organisers - To ensure that all their students’ learning needs are addressed, Module Organisers have access to a class list tab where students’ individual teaching and learning entitlements are viewable. This is viewable in the modules and assessments system, under the PLSP tab at https://apps.bangor.ac.uk/modules/assessments/ . All teaching staff assigned to a module can view a list of reasonable adjustments but unless they are the student's personal tutor, will not be able to view the whole PLSP.

• Programme Leads have access to a class list tab where students’ individual teaching and learning entitlements are viewable.
• Examination Officers / Administrators - School administrators and exam officers can view a report of all students who require adjustments to exams, and are also able to view an individual's PSLP at https://apps.bangor.ac.uk/plsp/report/exams/.

 

Useful Websites

Inclusive Programmes of Study  

SCIPS (Strategies for the Creation of Inclusive Programmes of Study) This resource is aimed at academic staff and offers strategies for promoting inclusive teaching, learning and assessment within Higher Education programmes of study.  It identifies potential challenges that disabled students may experience in achieving and/or demonstrating key skills and attributes as defined within Subject Benchmark Statements. It also suggests strategies and adjustments to practice that academic staff might consider in helping students overcome these challenges.

Postgraduate Students

• Making the Research Environment More Accessible to Disabled PGR Students
  

This resource base is home to a range of awareness and development materials for staff and students, including research supervisors, managers and postgraduate students.  You will need to register and then search on 'disability'.

Legislation

• Managing Reasonable Adjustments in HE

A publication developed by Equality Challenge Unit to assist institutions in taking a strategic approach to the overall planning cycle, leading to a more inclusive culture and long term cost and efficiency savings.

• Disability Legislation: Practical Guidance for Academics
  

  www.ecu.ac.uk

A book produced by the Equality Challenge Unit and the Higher Education Academy to help academic staff apply the Disability Discrimination Act Part 4 to learning and teaching.  Whilst the document refers to the DDA, which has subsequently been replaced by the Equality Act, much of the information in relation to learning and teaching remains relevant.

Equality and diversity for academics

A series of factsheets produced by the Equality Challenge Units aimed at academic staff in Wales and England.

• http://www.ecu.ac.uk/publications/e-and-d-for-academics-factsheets/

Inclusive Assessments

• Inclusive Assessment in Higher Education: A Resource for Change
  

This resource is the result of a three-year HEFCE funded Project to develop and promote alternative forms of assessment as a way of facilitating a more inclusive approach to assessment. 

 

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Updated 11.08.2022